Fred V & Grafix
Oxygen
CD/ DL/ LP
Out Now
Hospital Records release a plethora of drum and bass music, Fighting Boredom are very partial to their output and the Oxygen album by Fred V & Grafix is a positively charged rush of bright light to your head. Read what we think below.
With Oxygen Fred V & Grafix have crafted an album to get lost in, to feel the soaring heights of being madly in love and the wide open space of regret and things ending. It’s an accessible and huge sounding record with vocalists that merge into the sound and reflect the emotions in the tracks perfectly. The euphoric start of the album where you feel dappled sunlight on clear blue water merges youthful abandon and hope. The end is a soulful vocal and a more tempered and measured feel like a decision being made or life moving on.
There’s a very positive feel to the music and it’s addictive. Very hard to take off halfway through and a proper album to listen to all the way through. In this information age that is an achievement in itself.
The beats are infectious and clear. Not every song is a head rush of drum and bass there is softness and subtlety here too, for every moment of rushing dancing there’s another section of lying prone relaxing and watching the spinning stars in a huge night sky.
The vocals are quite beautiful, especially from Amy Pryce, they take the songs to another level, whether it’s delicate and sad in ‘Altitude’ or the spinning ‘Ignite’ the vocals just fit.
I can’t say much more. This is an essential album for sunny days and balmy nights, just let it play and lose yourself in the hugeness of feeling good and alive. We can all use a little happiness every now and again.
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Fred V & Grafix’s website is fredvandgrafix.com. They are also on Facebook and Tweet as @fredvgraphix.
All words by Adrian Bloxham.
